A Fond Farewell to the Gaming App of the Day

It’s been two years since we started posting the Gaming App of the Day here at Kotaku, shining the spotlight on a single Apple, Android or Windows Phone game that stood out in their respective crowded marketplaces. It was a good system, but it’s one that doesn’t work anymore, so it’s going away.(new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=995c4c7d-194f-4077-b0a0-7ad466eb737c&cid=872d12ce-453b-4870-845f-955919887e1b'; cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "995c4c7d-194f-4077-b0a0-7ad466eb737c" }).render("79703296e5134c75a2db6e1b64762017"); }); Late last year I took up the mantle of Kotaku‘s mobile gaming editor, spearheading an effort to expand our mobile gaming coverage beyond a single app a day or select big-name H25 titles. These days we’re writing about at h25 com สล็อต​ least two or three gaming apps a day. This made things complicated for the Gaming App of the Day format. Say Luke writes up his pick for Monday, and then Monday afternoon I stumble upon the greatest Android game I’ve ever played. I’d have to either write it as just another game under the shadow of the Gaming App of the Day, or wait until the next day. That’s silly. What was also happening was our non-mobile-centric writers (read: everyone not me) would pick a game to play for Gaming App of the Day, only to discover it wasn’t very good. We tooled with negative GAOTD posts, but they never really felt right, so it was up to the individual to keep acquiring games until they found one they liked. That’s also silly. And so, in order to maintain the sanity of my fellow writers and allow them the option of not liking something (it’s a good option), we’re going to start doing straight-up gaming app reviews. You’ll see how that all pans out on Monday, but I’m excited. In the meantime, check out the games I didn’t get around to writing about this week—it’s a nice meaty list, filled with little gems. And then scroll all the way down and check out our final five Gaming Apps of the Day. They will be (mildly) missed. Android APO Snow — $1.99 (also on iOS) A simple snowboarding and skiing game with single-finger controls. Not all that deep, but enjoyable. Dragon Gem — Free It’s a match-three game with a dragon theme. Not amazing, but good enough for a free download. Rayman Jungle Run — $2.99 (also on iOS) An iPhone game of the year, just as enjoyable on Android. iOS KooZac — Free An addictive little block puzzle with a heaping helping of math, and who doesn’t love math? Last Knight — $.99 An endless riding, jumping and jousting game built with Unreal Engine 3, so it’s shiny as well as entertaining! The Blockheads — Free This is a 2D version of MineCraft, h25 com เข้าสู่ระบบ​ essentially, free but with plenty to purchase in-game, should you choose. Half the players seem to like it. The other half hates it. Your call! Demolition Physics — $2.99 Do you like explosions? Do you like causing explosions? Do you like build things and then blowing them up? Not so much a game as a physics toy, Demolition Physics is a good way to work out your aggression. Little Amazon — Free An incredibly cute little runner with a hero that develops magical powers as you progress through the game. This is one you should definitely grab. Pinball Kid — Free A tribute to the old plastic handheld pinball games of yesteryear—you know the ones with the tiny ball bearings in them? Ah, memories. Amazing Ants — Free Get the ants to the exit in this adorable little physics puzzler. Really picks up once the rocket twigs show up. Gaming App of the Day — 1/7 – 1/11 2013 This Shark Prefers To Dine On Angry Birds https://kotaku.com/this-shark-prefers-to-dine-on-angry-birds-5973649 If Gameloft ever wants to shed its reputation as a studio that copies other people’s ideas and repackages them, then they probably shouldn’t be releasing games like Shark Dash. More » My New Favorite Endless Runner is Also an Endless Gunner https://kotaku.com/my-new-favorite-endless-runner-is-also-an-endless-gunne-5974130 You know what Temple Run is missing? Kids with guns. More » The Moon Sneezes Its Way into Your Heart in This Little-Kid Version of the Universe https://kotaku.com/the-moon-sneezes-its-way-into-your-heart-in-this-little-5974519 My two-year-old daughter doesn’t think of stars as huge bodies of flaming gas millions of miles away. She thinks of them as little five-pointed symbols that live inside books and on top of Christmas trees. In similar fashion, she knows that there’s a moon in the sky but also thinks the glowing circles formed by domed light fixtures in our home are also moons. Getting glimpses of how she’s thinking about the universe is almost unbearably cute. And so is Paper Galaxy, which manages to cast the cosmos as a giant playground. More » Joe Danger’s Most Impressive Stunt is How Good His Mobile Game Turned Out https://kotaku.com/joe-dangers-most-impressive-stunt-is-how-good-his-mobil-5974867 When I first caught wind of Hello Games bringing their stunt-racing hero Joe Danger to iOS, I imagined a straight port of the original PlayStation Network release, complete with a screen cluttered with virtual controls. Instead they’ve delivered a game that fully embraces the touch-based platform, one that’s as refreshing to play as it was for the company’s founder to develop. More » What’s In a Name? A Racing Game With a Nutty Finish https://kotaku.com/whats-in-a-name-a-racing-game-with-a-nutty-finish-5975195 It’s been a silly week for mobile games with suggestive names. First there was this. Then Fahey handed me something called “Noble Nutlings” for the iOS. Its icon was a beetle-browed, bucktoothed squirrel. I had no idea what to expect. More »